If there’s one thing I learned from my 10×10 challenge, and the No Shop April Challenge was that I love to wear black. It’s not so much that I learned this because I’ve always know that it’s my favorite color to wear; but rather, I really became hyper-aware of just how often I choose it over other choices that I have in my closet (the other choices being grey, white, and the occasional mustard or red).
I’ve been joking with my friends (and even on Instagram) that someday I’ll be getting rid of all things non-black in my wardrobe, but the more I joked about it, the more it seemed to make sense and the less ridiculous it all seemed. Some of my friends laughed. Some of my friends asked if I would feel limited by just having one color in my whole wardrobe, to which I would respond that I think it would be the opposite. I have noticed that it has been so much easier and faster getting dressed in the morning when I just focus on the black pieces in my wardrobe. All I need to really figure out is if I want to wear separates that day, or a dress. I have found that I spend way less time fretting over what to wear, which sometimes can bring such anxiety for me especially when combined with me running late to get somewhere. I have also noticed that shopping has been easier too since I can just filter by color when I’m browsing online, and when I’m in stores, I just flock to the racks that have black items on it. I have truly found it so liberating.
So…I did it. I have a mostly monochromatic wardrobe. I’ve gotten rid of even more things in my wardrobe. Ever since my last closet declutter, I’ve still been feeling that I have too much and that I could live with less, so I downsized again and got rid of things that were not black. I kept some striped tops (black and white of course), and some grey sweaters and cardigans. There is the occasional navy and graphic tee here and there. I kept a pair of blue jeans too, and put a few in storage just in case this is just a phase. I also kept a non-black dress or two, but for the most part, I have an almost all black wardrobe, and I’m pretty darn happy with it. Accessories wise, I definitely kept my white sneakers (it’s part of my current uniform) and some nude booties. I also kept my straw bags. this honestly didn’t take too long since I haven’t kept or bought too much color since my last purge. I can’t wait for Fall/Winter to roll around so I can purge even more.
I’m actually really looking forward to this change in my closet. I have been so happy with wardrobe since my declutter, but I’m excited to have even less than I did going forward. A lot of my friends have asked me why I wanted to make this change. I think the main reason was to avoid decision fatigue. I’m hoping that by having only one color to work with, I spend less time and energy deciding what to wear, and more on being productive and creative. Not only that, but everything matches, and I might just finally have that cohesive closet that I’ve been pining after for years. I feel confident and really good about myself in black. I feel cool and a little mysterious in black. It is simple, but it’s so easy to dress up or down. I just feel like you can’t go wrong with black. It is a quiet statement. I think Yohji Yamamoto said it best: “Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy – but mysterious. But above all black says this: I don’t bother you – don’t bother me.”
One thing that did cross my mind was that my blog and Instagram might become boring if I just wear black, but I quickly dismissed that silly notion. It has been such a journey and a process to be more authentic in this corner of the internet, but I think I’ve reached the point where I do dress for me and not for the ‘gram. I’m really, really excited to continue to blog this journey towards a sustainable and monochromatic wardrobe.
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3rd season dress (unavailable online), mansur gavriel mini bucket bag (thrifted), adidas stan smith sneakers, rayban round sunglasses
